Tag Archives: stanislaw lem

Michael Orthofer is excited to see that Bill Johnston has done the first direct Polish-to-English translation of Stanisław Lem’s novel Solaris.

So that loud triumphant cheer you might have heard, that was me, reveling in what may well be the publishing announcement of 2011 (that David Foster Wallace book ? get serious ….. Okay, there is 1Q84, but otherwise …): yes, apparently the First ever direct English translation of Solaris published — so reports Alison Flood in The Guardian:

The first ever direct translation into English of the Polish science fiction author Stanislaw Lem’s most famous novel, Solaris, has just been published, removing a raft of unnecessary changes and restoring the text much closer to its original state.

That’s cool and all, but here’s the strange thing: this translation is currently only available as an audiobook. It’ll be published in 6 months as an ebook, and “Lem’s heirs are hoping to overcome legal issues to release it as a print edition as well.”

Things are getting very strange in the world when a book could conceivably go from audio to electronic and end in a print edition.